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In an interview with Warner Bros. Pictures released on March 6, 2020, Ben Affleck opened up about his thoughts on the 2020 sports drama film The Way Back. The movie follows Jack Cunningham, who is a construction worker and an alcoholic. When he's offered a coaching gig at his old high school, Jack's life takes a dramatic turn.
The Way Back stars Ben Affleck as Jack Cunningham, Al Madrigal as Dan, Michaela Watkins as Beth, and Janina Gavankar as Angela. The movie is directed by Gavin O'Connor.
The interviewer, Mark S. Allen, spoke about his opinions on the movie, saying it's not like other sports cliche and addiction cliche movies. To which Affleck replied:
"I think I would hate to see like a cliche addiction movie. I think any alcoholic or addict, like, cuz they're the last people that want to see some sort of like predictable, you know, preachy story."
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Ben Affleck on The Way Back and dealing with his addiction
In the interview, Ben Affleck continued to talk about how the movie resists classical movie tropes and how the storyline is kept authentic.
"It was important to me that it be honest, real, and that it subvert those expectations, both as a sports movie where you expect okay, now this is going to happen, and as a movie about addiction, which have kind of classic tropes that you've come to expect. This movie resists those in a way that I think makes it more satisfying because it makes it feel more real," he stated.
In another interview with The New York Times on February 18, 2020, Affleck opened up about his compulsive behavior.
“You’re trying to make yourself feel better with eating or drinking or sex or gambling or shopping or whatever. But that ends up making your life worse. Then you do more of it to make that discomfort go away. Then the real pain starts. It becomes a vicious cycle you can’t break. That’s at least what happened to me,” he explained.
He spoke about how his drinking problem got worse when his marriage to Jennifer Garner started falling apart.
"I drank relatively normally for a long time. What happened was that I started drinking more and more when my marriage was falling apart. This was 2015, 2016. My drinking, of course, created more marital problems,” he said.
Affleck then spoke about how he realized it wasn't healthy for him to obsess over failures and relapses. He acknowledged the fact that he's made mistakes and done things in the past that he regrets.
"But you’ve got to pick yourself up, learn from it, learn some more, try to move forward,” he concluded.
Ben Affleck's upcoming movie: The Accountant 2
The Accountant 2 is Ben Affleck's upcoming movie set to hit theatres on April 25, 2025. Directed by Gavin O'Connor, the movie is a sequel to the action thriller film The Accountant, released in 2016.
In The Accountant 2, Treasury Agent Marybeth Medina enlists the services of Christian Wolff when a close friend is killed by mysterious assassins. Christian, a reclusive but genius forensic accountant with lethal abilities, teams up with his estranged brother Brax to solve the mystery.
As they investigate further, they uncover a dark web of corruption and secrets tied to powerful people. Their search for the truth puts them in the crosshairs of elite assassins. Blending sharp thinking with intense action, the movie delivers a gripping and emotional thriller about justice, family, and the cost of exposing hidden truths.
The Accountant 2 releases in theatres on April 25, 2025.
